For 14 years we watched Ozzie, in
his alpaca cardigan and Harriet, with her ever ready pot of coffee and a plate
of brownies. Boomers grew up with Ricky and David.

When asked if this
was a realistic view of family life, the answer is a resounding no. Their idea
of a life crisis was having two chairs mistakenly delivered to the
house.

Speaking of the house at 522 Sycamore Road, Hilldale, the set was
an exact replica of their real life home in Hollywood.

If you remember
all those scenes in the kitchen, that's because up until 1956, Hotpoint, the
sponsor, was displaying their products! After that, you probably recall more
outdoors scenes. Did you notice the cameras around everyone's necks? Yup, Kodak
became the sole sponsor.

Ozzie was producer, director and head writer.
In short, he had control.

Ricky has been bugging his father to let
him sing a tune on the show. So on April 10,1957 in "Rick the Drummer" he
covered Fat's Domino's "I'm Walkin." The song shot to the top of the
charts.

Eventually, the boys grew up and married and their real life
wives joined the show. David married June and Ricky married Kris Harmon,
daughter of Tom and brother to Mark.

Passings

Ozzie Nelson died in 1975 of cancer, Rick Nelson died
1985 in a plane crash, Harriet died in 1999 of congestive heart
failure and David Nelson in 2011 of colon cancer.